Edgar Allan Poe in Stoke Newington: London #12

The Fox Reformed restaurant and wine bar, Stoke Newington Church Street, Hackney, London.

 

'EDGAR ALLAN POE

1809–1849

Writer and Poet

Was a pupil at the

Manor House School (1817–1820),

Which stood on this site.'

 

'POE

 

unveiled by Stephen Berkoff

on 4 June 2011

 

the flicker club

–––––––––––––––––––––––

The Edgar Allan Poe Society'

 

Edgar Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts, and became an orphan in 1811, when he was fostered by the self-made merchant John Allan and his wife Frances of Richmond, Virginia, which is how his middle name came to be 'Allan'. In 1815 the Allans, including Edgar, left for England where John Allan had business, and after eventually settling in London Edgar had three years' education in Chelsea. After that he continued at the Rev. John Bransby's school in the then small village of Stoke Newington, where he was very much an outsider: his accent and lack of skill at sport were laughed at, he had his own sleeping accommodation away from the dormitory, but his skills in literature and French  surpassed those of even older students. Bransby thought John Allan spoiled Edgar, but with Allan's business failing (temporarily as it happened), the family were forced to leave England and return to the States in May 1820.

 

(The photo at the top of my blog is, of course, Poe's Cottage in The Bronx, New York City.)

 

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Richmond, Virginia: Edgar Allan Poe Museum

Edgar Allan Poe in Boston, Massachusetts